


Let the Rain Fall

by Cassandra1007



Series: Cullen Rutherford and Latheira Lavellan [1]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: And a little bit of angst, Crying, Emotional Baggage, F/M, Fluff, a smidgen of angst, inspired by the amount of times I;ve gotten frustrated and cried about dumb stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-25
Updated: 2018-01-25
Packaged: 2019-03-06 05:33:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13404519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cassandra1007/pseuds/Cassandra1007
Summary: The first time Cullen sees Latheira -brave, strong, fearless Latheira- crying it nearly knocks him off his feet.





	Let the Rain Fall

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first chapter in my series about my inquisitor and her romance with Cullen. It is mostly one shots and my own headcanon and in no particular order. If you like it, feel free to leave kudos and comments and maybe your headcanon will be my headcanon too ;)

The first time Cullen sees Latheira -brave, strong, fearless Latheira- crying it nearly knocks him off his feet. Literally. He is standing at the gate to greet her on her return from the Emprise when her large dracolisk comes sprinting past, almost barreling into him.' _The beast must have been anxious to get back to the stables',_  he reasons, ' _it_ ** _is_** _about to rain'._ But when he goes to calm down the unusually large lizard, he seems calm. Angry as always, but not nervous in the slightest. And with Latheira nowhere around he assumed she must have snuck into the great hall the back way by the stables. Deciding that the dracolisk seemed calm enough, and with Latheira nowhere in sight, he resigns himself to his work. As he is turning around to begin the trek back to his office, he hears a small whimper, so quiet he might not have heard it had his migraine not made every sound exponentially louder. Turning back around and peering over the stall door, he saw Latheira in the far corner, knees to her chest and head down. Smaller than he had ever thought a grown woman, elf or not, could be. It takes a moment for his brain to comprehend that she was crying and that the sound he heard was a small sob. Now begins the internal war. Does he stay and comfort her or leave her to calm down herself? True, they had talked many times and he ventured to call her a friend, but what if she preferred to be alone now? He reached up to scratch the back of his neck, his nervous habit that he swore he'd stop doing every time he did it, and his armor creaked, causing the blonde in the corner to shoot her head up, looking him directly in the eyes. The look she gave him sent chills down his spine. She looked... broken. Realizing that now he had no choice, Cullen slowly unhooked the stall door to enter. A snort from the dracolisk had him pause before entering. The great beast’s eyes followed him cautiously as he walked around him to the back of the stall where Latheira was curled up in a pile of rags, no doubt her mounts... nest.

Slowly, so slowly, he sat down in front of her, choosing to ignore the dracolisk nest for fear of what the mount would do if he found a stranger there, as comfortably as he could in his armor. He was speechless. They had never had a serious conversation before. Up until then it had all been business or jokes or even the occasional flirt. Harmless he supposed but that didn't stop him from enjoying it. ' _Rutherford you_ ** _cannot_** _entertain the idea that her suggestive remarks are anything but a joke. Besides, now is not the time for this_ ' He scolded himself for his wandering mind and focused again on the task at hand: figuring out what was wrong. Ignoring the fact that her gaze hadn't left him since her head jolted up to watch him, he gathered the courage to reach across and set a hand on her knee. At his touch a sob forced its way out of her body. His heart broke when he heard that retching noise of a sob tearing itself out of her. He didn't know that he would be this affected by her. He knew that he enjoyed her company and that sometimes, if she smiled just right at him, his continuous migraine got just a bit better, he knew how he felt about her, but he never knew that seeing her this sad, this  _broken,_  could make his heart hurt so. Almost as if she could read his mind, she managed between sobs to say, mumble really, “It- It’s no-othing re-eally-y. You-ou do-on’t have t-to sta-ay.”

"Not until you tell me what has you like this, Inquisitor." At the use of her title he saw her face twinge and another sob hiccuped its way out. "... Latheira" The twisted expression on her face dissipated ever so slightly at the use of her real name. He could hear now that it was raining quite heavily.

She mumbled, a bit more coherently this time, "I-it's really no-othing, Cul- Commander,"  _'was she about to say Cullen?_  She did not use his name often, but every time she did it sent a chill up his spine. Some feeling he could not name shot through his heart at the sound of her sobbing it.He was lost in the thought of this unknown feeling when he felt hands creep forward and grab his shoulders. Somehow she had moved, so slowly he didn't notice, and the next thing he knew, she was grasping onto him as though he was the only thing keeping her from blowing away and the only thing he could do in return was put his arms around her, gently so as not to hurt her with his armor that was now sharper than he remembered. Her sobs wracked her body and shook his as she let out the flood of emotions she had kept hidden so well.

"Do-" he croaked, "Do you want to talk about it?"

One more large sob forced itself out, shaking them both, before she mumbled, so close to his ear, "I-it's ridiculous. It was my bootstrap." At this she almost laughed, that light sound like music to Cullens ears.

"Your bootstrap?" He couldn't keep the amusement out of his voice, but based on how her body relaxed into his she did not mind. 

"Yes. It came untied while I was riding and I just... I'm not sure I..."

"I understand" Cullen cut her off but she just nodded in agreement. He had known that feeling. Where the smallest thing can set you off and break your composure. He knows that the reason it breaks you isn't because of the small thing, it's because of a bunch of things, big and small, that needed the excuse to break out. He can't imagine the stress of being the Inquisitor but it must be worse than he thought if the thing that breaks her is her bootstrap.

She sniffles in his ear before leaning back. He is reluctant to let her go but he does. He didn't realize how at home he felt with her in his arms  _'This isn't good Rutherford. You're only going to get your hopes up and have them crushed.'_ His brain scolded. Her voice broke him out of his trance. He finally looked at her face for the first time since sitting down. He pale complexion was blotched an ugly red. He large blue eyes were bloodshot and there were tear tracks streaking across her cheeks. At least she had stopped crying.

" I know it sounds dumb but I just... The Emprise was worse than I could have imagined. Red templars everywhere, people being used as _slaves_ and _experiments."_ the last words escaped from her mouth like prisoners, trapped in her mind waiting to escape. "There were demons and dragons that we could not have anticipated and... and" The tears resurfaced and threatened to fall before she closed her eyes and took a deep, shaky breath. finally she said quietly, "...I have to go back. There's more to do and I have to go back. Then I have to go to the masquerade and save the empress but before that I have to go to Adamant and face whatever that has in store for me and I just... living when you don't know when-" Her hand sparking cut her off. The green light illuminating their faces in the dimming light. It was already dusk. The green light turned something on in both of them. Or maybe it was that fact that she was about to confess how scared she is or maybe they both realized how close they are. Either way the next thing Cullen knew their faces were just inches from each other, lips almost touching.  _' did... did this mean she felt the same? Is this really happening?'_ the thoughts flooded Cullens mind but they were drowned out by the flooding in his ears. He felt her breath on his lips when

                                                                                                      CRACK

There was a loud crash of thunder and they both startled and backed away from each other. Suddenly realizing what they were about to do, they both shot up. Cullen, with shaky hands, held open the stall door for Latheira as she slowly exited. The rain was really pouring now and while Cullen stayed under they roof of the stable, Latheira kept walking right into the rain, letting it wash over her. Cullen could have sworn he had never seen anything so beautiful. She threw her head back, welcoming the rain before turning to look back at him. Before he knew what he was doing he found himself walking into the rain to join her. His armor was sure to rust and he might catch cold with the hole in his roof, but all he could think of was the look of rain as it rolled off of Latheiras pale skin, how it sometimes stopped right on top of a freckle, making it look larger, how her hair got curly when it was wet.

"I always did love storms" Latheira broke the silence. Cullen nodded a response before he felt small hands touch his. Without looking he opened up his grasp and grabbed onto her hand.

They stood there like that for what felt like hours, but was probably only a few minutes. Holding hands in a way that seemed much more intimate than it probably was, staring at the rain. 


End file.
